


I hate to say (I told you so)

by Thosetigerseyes



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Hackle, Married Witches in Love, Snuggling fixes everything, Tortoise Trouble, Who Knows?, is this angst?, is this fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 22:38:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13350975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thosetigerseyes/pseuds/Thosetigerseyes
Summary: Ada's optimistic as ever going into the new school year but Hecate knows better than that, there's trouble abound and well who's to blame her if she lets slip an "I told you so"





	I hate to say (I told you so)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to the amazing @cassiopeiasara for the beta work, it is much appreciated.
> 
> This basically came about from commenting on a Tumblr post so... Blame @ballion not me.
> 
> Enjoy?

Ada Cackle felt as if all was right in the world. After last year’s disastrous events, she knew that even if they had a minor infraction here or there, it couldn’t possibly be worse than the year prior.

 

The new term was starting in a few days. The castle was back to rights and ready to welcome its new and returning students, Agatha was safely locked away where she could cause no more harm, the sun was shining and she had her darling Hecate curled against her side. Gentle breaths puffed across her shoulder, long silky black hair cast across her face and not a single crease marking her forehead.

 

Yes, Ada Cackle had a  _ good _ feeling about this year.

 

Stretching, Ada extricated herself from Hecate’s embrace, trying not to wake her in the process. She was not successful, as unlike Ada, Hecate was a dreadfully light sleeper. Ada chuckled at the grumbling emanating from under the mass of dark curls as Hecate snuggled her face down into Ada’s pillow. It was still hard to believe sometimes that Hecate Hardbroom really wasn’t a morning person. Sitting back down on the bed, Ada threaded her fingers through Hecate’s hair, sweeping it out of her face, she garnered a scrunched up nose and more grumbling in return.

 

“It’s a lovely day, dearest, perhaps you would like to catch a glimpse of it before night falls again?” 

 

Ada chuckled again at Hecate’s indignant huff, although Hecate did manage to push herself up into a sitting position, sliding back to rest against the headboard while stifling a yawn.

 

“Don’t tease Ada. The faster these days pass, the sooner the new term begins and I’d rather not dwell on that dreadful thought.”

 

“Oh hush now, Hecate, don’t be so dramatic, I’ve got a good feeling about this year.” Ada smiled, and patted Hecate’s thigh through the covers, leaning across to place a soft kiss against her cheek.

 

“You said that last year -” Hecate grumbled in response, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she worked her hands through her hair to try and tame it into some reasonable form, eventually giving up and snapping her fingers, quickly magicking it into a neat twisted braid, tumbling over her shoulder.

 

“Yes, well, one can only be wrong so many times, my dear.” Ada huffed She pushed off the bed as she flicked her wrists, and changed into her clothes for the day. “Now I don’t know about you but I’m famished, I think this calls for some tea and biscuits before we start on the last of the administration, hmm?”

 

The first day of term came around much too quickly for Hecate, she was still organising the last of her potions lab on the morning of Selection Day.  Hecate was just placing a jar, complete with spider gently on to her neatly stocked shelves when Ada tapped on the door frame of the lab, making her jump and scowl down at the creature in the jar as it scurried about.

 

“They’ll be arriving soon, are you going to come up to the grounds or would you prefer to stay down here and brood?”

 

“I do not brood.” The deep furrow set across her brow did little to assuage Ada’s concerns.

 

“You do my dear.You look positively sour, whatever is the matter?”

 

Ada took the opportunity to look over her love. As the days had drawn closer to Selection, Hecate had grown more stiff and cold, falling back into her well mastered guise of the stern and menacing HB. Ada sighed as her eyes followed the rigid line of Hecate’s back, she looked lovely in her new dress, positively breathtaking - the dark fabric clung to her every curve, accentuated by the silk sash as her waist but it did nothing to hide the tension coursing through her body.

 

“I admire your positivity Ada I truly do, I just...” Sighing Hecate turned away from the shelf and moved to perch herself on the edge of her desk, curled her fingers around the edge and dug her nails into the grain underneath.    
  


“As much as you have a good feeling about this year, I have a bad one. Since everything with Agatha last year, there’s just.. I don’t know what it is,I just have a  _ feeling _ .” Hecate waved her hand absentmindedly and cast Ada a dejected look.

 

Sighing, Ada moved across to Hecate and rested her hands against her arms, squeezing gently. She had really hoped they had all moved past the debacle with Agatha, but obviously, it still held some weight with Hecate. As soon as they got the chance, they would have to spend some time together to work through it, as they had done since Hecate had first joined the school, supporting and relying on each other.

 

“Come on, we’ll go up and greet the girls and you’ll see. Nothing will go wrong and everything will be fine.  _ I just know it! _ ” Patting Hecate on the arms once more and giving her a chaste kiss before taking a step back, Ada brought her hand up at the same time as Hecate as they both flicked out of existence. They landed next to Miss Drill on the teacher’s podium, just in time to see the first of the girls circle the castle before landing.

 

Ada took an invigorating breath of fresh air as the students started lining up, forming long queues of four over, the new girls crowded together on Ada’s far right.

Ada welcomed them all with a smile while Hecate stood next to her, an unimpressed expression glued to her face and posture ramrod straight, as she took in the ever growing tide of students.

 

When Ada had deemed the gathering crowds sufficient, she decided to get the most pressing matter out of the way.

 

“Now you may recall, we had a few security issues last term, let me assure you all however that every possible step has been taken to assure the school is one hundred percent --”

 

The sound of grating tiles and a very distinctive scream broke out across the grounds, stopping Ada mid-sentence. She glanced out across the crowd of girls and noticed they were all looking past her. Above her, before she could even think to turn around a roof tile flew past her head, too close for comfort before lodging itself soundly into the earth in front of Maud and Enid, who jumped back just in time, with high pitched yelps.

 

“Safe.”

 

Ada turned in time with Hecate, mouth agape, to spy Mildred Hubble dangling from the flagpole, looking rather sheepish for a girl hanging forty odd feet from the ground. Ada could feel Hecate’s agitation radiating off of her and she was sure if she turned to look, Hecate’s expression would be enough to turn poor Mildred to stone.

 

“Welcome back….  _ Mildred Hubble _ .” Hecate ground out, still glowering up at Mildred. 

 

Ada bit back the urge to sigh, it would take her forever to work the tension out of Hecate, as if she wasn’t already rigid enough. Ada spared a thought for what she deemed her darling summer Hecate, who by comparison she would consider a kitten; soft, gentle, loving and pliant. It would take a lot of gentle care and pampering to get the Hecate currently standing next to her to resemble anything of the woman she had been mere days ago.

 

Normally Ada wouldn’t mind, in fact she usually loved the task of softening Hecate after a long year of stressful terms, but that was after an entire year and not the first day, the thought of having to juggle her irritated wife and the entire school left her feeling dreadfully tired.

 

Ada was brought out of her musings by a frenzied Mildred, stumbling over her apologies and excuses as she joined her friends.

 

“I am really sorry Miss Cackle, my project flew off and then I tried to get it and…”

 

“Not a problem Mildred.” Ada squared her shoulders and decided to power on through the necessary speeches.. “Now where was I? Ah yes safety, We’ve clearly got some work to do on the roof. Apart from that, I’m certain we couldn’t be more protected than here at Cackle’s…”

 

Much like Mildred, Ada found herself stumbling through her own sentences, struggling to maintain focus between the hushed whispers running through the girls, Hecate’s quiet grumbling - that she suspected the other witch had meant to keep under her breath - and the god awful noise coming from the roof…A lot of noise coming from the roof, too much noise in fact. It sounded frighteningly like the entire East Wing had just collapsed.

 

“The school just collapsed didn’t it, Miss Hardbroom?” Ada was not sure she believed the words tumbling from her lips in a wavering voice, even as the far off sound of tumbling rocks still reached her ears.

 

“I believe it did, Miss Cackle” Hecate knew this would happen. Well not this exactly, she had thought Mildred would start small for her first day back, destroying near on a quarter of the school was a lot of chaos even for her, but she still knew – she knew as soon as Mildred Hubble set foot on school grounds the pandemonium would start.

 

She had an ‘I told you so’ resting on the tip of her tongue, but Ada’s resigned voice and the utterly devastated look on her sweet face had given her pause. It reawakened the scarcely dormant part of her that wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in her arms and tell her everything would be okay, but that wouldn’t do, not in front of so many of their students, so instead she settled for sending Ada small waves of reassuring magic from the tips of her fingers that grazed gently against Ada’s side, hidden from view by the podium, face still settled in her trademark glare.

 

Pressing her lips together and trying to control the awful feeling unfurling in her chest, Ada shook her head solemnly, she could feel the beginning prick of tears against her closed lids, refusing to let them fall, Ada took a calming breath, as deep as she could around the feeling in her chest, focused on Hecate’s calming magic and started to repeat a mantra in her head.

 

_ This is fine, we can fix this, and it can still be a good year. _

 

It was when they’d begun to sort through the rubble that Ada thought it might be harder to fix than she had initially thought. She gathered up a stone from the remains, transferred it and herself to her office, closely followed by Hecate.

 

Ada let out a long sigh as she collapsed into the chair behind her desk, depositing the stone onto the surface with a thud. Hecate appeared next to her, hand hovering in the air between them, unsure if she should comfort Ada with the chance of others materialising any moment. She settled for a quietly murmured ‘ _ Ada’ _ , the single utterance somehow holding all of her emotions for the other woman.

 

“I’m fine, Hecate, don’t worry.”

 

Hecate pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow, clearly unconvinced at Ada’s half-hearted reassurance. Deciding Ada needs her and that that was more important than proprietary, Hecate was just about to step forward to wrap her up in a hug as the other teachers started appearing, Ms. Bat first, who greeted Hecate with a knowing look and a sad smile.

 

As the final teachers appeared beside Ada, she leaned forward in her chair to wave her hand over the hobbled stone, bringing it back with a gasp as if she’d been burnt. At the noise Hecate’s own hand had shot out in a protective stance, should the boulder suddenly decide to attack Ada, other hand coming to rest across Ada’s shoulder blades.

 

“Left over bad magic from Agatha’s annihilation spell last term.”

 

A collective gasp spread through the office, eyes glancing around warily before settling on the portrait, as if the mere mention of Agatha could pull her from its frame.

 

“But we reversed it!” Hecate could kick herself, she should have done a better job, been more thorough, but she’d been too preoccupied with comforting Ada and making sure she truly was okay, that she wouldn’t ever leave her again.

 

“Traces were hidden deep in the wall, the flag pole coming out created a chain reaction.”

 

“Thank goodness for Mildred’s aerial predicament.” Only Davina would find reason to praise Mildred Hubble for destroying half the school, if Hecate hadn’t been so shocked, she would have scoffed.

 

“Indeed, it could have spread through the entire school if left unchecked.”

 

Ada tried steadfastly to look on the bright side. If she let Hecate’s pessimism get to her, she’s not sure she’d make it through the school year at all, let alone the first day.

 

“We’ll have to remove it, stone by stone, we can’t rebuild until it’s gone.” Mr Rowan-Webb pointed out from behind Ada, running a hand through his long beard, catching the occasional knot that made his nose twitch.

 

“Space will be tight for a while,” Dimity added. The thought of re-arranging all the girls dormitories a daunting one, a job that would no doubt fall to Hecate, Dimity and the remaining teachers would merely have to herd the girls in the right directions once the adjustments had been made.

 

“But we’ll manage, _keep calm and_ _witch on!”_

 

Even as she said it Ada wasn’t completely convinced of her own words, but she was headmistress, she had the job of rallying her staff, so rally she would!

 

As the other witches and wizard started to file out of her office, she could feel Hecate hovering by her shoulder, clearing debating on whether to stay or go with the others. Ada had resolutely decided to avoid meeting Hecate’s gaze, she knew what awaited her if she did; a raised eyebrow, a cluck of her tongue and an ‘I told you so’. It usually wouldn’t bother her, on a normal day she found it endearing but not today. She wouldn’t give Hecate the satisfaction, even if it meant going the remainder of the day without looking at her wife even once.

 

“Don’t you have classes to attend, Hecate?” As it left her lips Ada regretted her prickly tone, Hecate didn’t deserve her sharp remarks, if anyone did it was Agatha, but Ada’s nerves were fraying along with her usual gentle demeanour.

 

“I -” Hecate’s posture had gone rigid as the words caught in her throat. “Yes, Headmistress.”

 

Ada dropped her head into her hands, fingers working against the pressure points on her forehead to abate the growing migraine, as Hecate cleared her throat and disappeared from her place beside her, leaving a hollow feeling in Ada’s chest at the sudden emptiness of her office.

 

The rhythmic clunking of stones was like the ticking of a clock for Ada as the hours slipped by on the roof, the pile of rubble never seeming to diminish, she sat down against what used to be one of the castle windows when Mildred appeared at her feet.

 

“Oh, Miss Cackle, Miss Hardbroom set me, about my project” Mildred babbled from her place on the floor. One more thing Ada would have to sort out before the day ended., She felt a twinge of annoyance at Hecate for adding to the list but tried to quash it down.

 

They were back in her office and Ada was staring down at a tortoise, a  _ talking _ tortoise, nothing was simple when it came to Mildred and Ethel. She really was getting tired of their near constant residence in her office for one digression or another. Hecate was behind her in her usual spot, adding the occasional snarky comment. Shaking her head, Ada ignored her and focused on the reptile stomping around her desk.

 

Could a tortoise be a reputable witness? Ethel seemed to think not and Hecate agreed with her, Ada took one look at Mildred’s crestfallen expression and came to a decision.

 

“We’ll just have to check the bins then.” She steepled her fingers and set her gaze on Ethel’s panicked expression.

 

Ada was sure she’d traipsed all over the castle within the space of the day. Her feet were aching and she wanted nothing more than to sit down and relax in front of the fire with a cup of sweet tea and a tray of biscuits, instead she once again dropped into her place behind the Headmistresses’ desk and conjured the insurance forms for all the new first years, they would have to be filed and set off before any of them could go near a broom.  

 

At least the confusion with Mildred’s project had been sorted out. After finding it crumbled up in the bins, Ada had set Ethel to do lines. She regretted not expelling her on the spot, however with Ethel’s mother sitting as the head of the board of management, there was little more she could do than give the girl a menial punishment. Tipping her glasses down and pinching the bridge of her nose, Ada let out another sigh, one of many throughout the day. She just hoped this instance may prompt Hecate to go easier on Mildred, the girl really had applied herself over the summer and produced an exceptional project. Thinking of her Deputy Head reminded Ada that she had yet to find Hecate and apologise for her brusque behaviour. She had hoped Hecate would appear for supper but had no such luck.

 

Getting up to stretch her legs and check the clock above her mantle, Ada let out a groan. The paperwork had taken longer than she would have liked, drawing out well into the night. Hecate would probably be in her own quarters by now, finishing her own marking or getting an early night, she usually insisted on staying near the girls for the first week at least.

 

Ada let out a weary sigh as she moved from her place next to the fire towards her bed, too tired to conjure her night clothes. She managed to merely drop down on to the edge of the bed, before falling back against the duvet, eyes fixed on the heavy wooden beams of the ceiling. She stayed like that for a while, absorbing the silence and temporary peace. 

 

Startling when between a blink, the ceiling disappeared and was replaced by Hecate’s concerned face, staring down at her carefully as she leaned over the edge of the bed.

 

“Ada?”

 

“Yes, darling?” It came out in a yawn but Hecate still softened at the endearment.

 

“I had thought, perhaps you were angry with me?” Her face had vanished as the bed dipped to Ada’s left, tipping her head to the side, Ada tookin Hecate’s appearance, she looked just as exhausted and haggard as Ada felt.

 

“Of course not, why would you think such a thing?” Ada would usually embrace Hecate to prove her point, but she really didn’t have the energy, feeling as if she was being slowly absorbed into the soft mattress as the seconds ticked by.

 

“I, Perhaps, I miscalculated.” Hecate’s brow had furrowed. 

 

Ada knew this particular look. Hecate always bore it when she thought she had digressed, somehow stepped out of line, it was one of the few looks Ada hated on her wife’s face.

 

“Come here,” Ada moved her arm to the side, making room for Hecate to fall in against her. When she doesn’t move, Ada let out a quiet huff. “Now Hecate”

 

A jolt shot through Hecate and she was instantly in Ada’s arms, fitting against her like a puzzle piece.

 

“Is this because I was harsh with you earlier?” Hecate stiffened slightly, feeling like an over sensitive child.

 

“You were right, everything did go wrong, and I am sorry, my darling girl. I may have misplaced my agitation at the day towards you.” Ada tightened her outstretched arm around Hecate’s shoulders and tipped her head again to press a kiss to her forehead. “Forgive me?”

 

Ada berated herself, she had been so caught up in the ever escalating mess, that she had cast Hecate aside, she knew what that would do to her, how it would hurt her, It was as good as taking a bat to Hecate’s fragile heart.

 

“I would forgive you anything, Ada.” Hecate snuffled against the side of Ada’s neck, giving away the tell-tale feeling of hot tears against her skin. 

 

Gathering the last of her energy, Ada turned and sat up, pulling Hecate with her.

 

“Oh my sweet girl, I love you dearly, you know that,” Ada pressed another kiss against the corner of Hecate’s mouth, wiping the stray tears with the pad of her thumb. “I would never turn you away.”

 

Hecate screwed her eyes shut, nodding vigorously, as she fell against Ada’s shoulder, wrapping her in a tight embrace.

 

“Time for bed, don’t you think?” Ada murmured against the top of Hecate’s head and she ran an arm down her back, fingers twitching to enchant Hecate’s dress into her night clothes. “Stay with me? I know the first week you like to be there for the girls,I just thought--”

 

“Yes,” Hecate cut her off before she can finish and moved to crawl to the top of the bed, slipping her legs under the covers, waiting for Ada to join her.

 

Ada slid in next to her, relaxing immediately as Hecate moved to lay her head under her chin. She looked so young, curled up small, hair wild and face marked with soft pink tear tracks and sleepy, heavy lidded eyes.

 

They were laying together in the near darkness, Hecate’s face pressed in close to Ada’s chest as Ada ran her finger through Hecate’s hair in a soothing manner. Ada felt the tight knot in her chest from the hectic day begin to ease as Hecate curled herself around her body, skin to skin baring the thin slips of nightwear. Hecate’s arm came to loop around Ada’s waist, pulling her in even more as if the mere thought of a single atom of space between them was too much. She could physically feel the love radiating from Hecate’s very being, seeping into her bones and easing away every ache and warming her in entirety. Ada felt a heady gratitude seize her heart in place of the panic, she had her sweet and gentle Hecate with her again and even if it would only last through the darkness it would be enough to get Ada through the coming days and hardships. She could manage with the promise of this awaiting her each night.

 

Hecate managed to stay quiet for a short while as she snuggled in close to Ada, enjoying the warmth and softness of her wife, letting the darkness and the comforting sounds of Ada quiet breathing to lull her towards sleep, though not before she had turned her face against Ada’s collarbone and in a muffled voice had spoken out into the darkness.

 

“I did tell you though…. “

 

The only response she gained from Ada was a decidedly exasperated sounding sigh, followed by an equally mumbled.

 

“Go to sleep Hecate.”

####    
  



End file.
